Thanksgiving at Disneyland

[mattnday]

Well, after much thought, it looks like we are blowing off the family and going to Disneyland for Thanksgiving prior to our Nov 30 cruise on The Carnival Pride.

It was a tough decision due to crowds and lack of quality reasonable accomidations.

We have settled on the Hilton at a very reasonable $90 / night through hotwire including all taxes. We will be hoping for the best.

We have a couple of questions?

1)Any thoughts on dinner inside or outside the park on Thanksgiving?

2) Is there anything we shouldn't miss on Thanksgiving Day that is Disneyland related?

3)Debating doing the drive from Sacramento on Wednesday night instead of Thursday Morning - We would leave about 4 PM Wednesday or 5 AM Thursday
Any ideas on better scenario for minimized traffic

 

[samkj]

Hi Neighbor! We'll be leaving DL about the time you get there. We also are in the Sacramento area. We leaving Friday 11/18 around 4pm and leave DL 11/23 to visit my In-laws for Thanksgiving in San Diego (they will also be driivng up to join us for 2 days at the park earlier in the week) Traffic down to So CA is normally horrible Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, so count on at least an extra hour for the drive. But I would think the crowds on the road will lessen as it gets later in the evening. Getting out of Sacramento and the drive through Stockton will be slow. All that said, if it were me I would drive Wednesday night(notice we are leaving late too) I would rather get the drive done and sleep in the hotel waking up for DL rather than getting up rediculously early and having to make the drive! Our kids don't know yet we are leaving Friday, they think we're going Saturday. We'll tell them when its time to get in the car!

 

[OurDogCisco]

I vote for Wednesday night. Generally, we can make the drive in 5 to 6 hours. We usually stop in Stockton for dinner (usually at a drive-thru) and finish the drive off. If we leave by 6 or 7 pm we are there by midnight or 1 am. Our kids generally don't have any problems sleeping in the car. If we drive during the day they tend to want to stop more for food, drinks and bathroom breaks. We're leaving on Thurs the 17th.

I have no idea for the dinner part. I've looking for suggestions as well. On another page that I chat on they basically said that Thanksgiving dinners are very crowded and expensive anywhere in LA. Luckily we are staying in a timeshare with a full kitchen so we'll probably hang out there.

Have fun!

 

[samkj]

we can make the drive in 5 to 6 hours.

I HOPE it only takes us that long!! But since our kids are only 4 (turns 4 at DL) 5 and 7 we will need a couple bathroom breaks. Our plan is leave around 4, stop around 7 for dinner and hopefully drive the rest of the way (although it seems they always need a bathroom break going over the grapevine.)

 

[OurDogCisco]

I HOPE it only takes us that long!! But since our kids are only 4 (turns 4 at DL) 5 and 7 we will need a couple bathroom breaks. Our plan is leave around 4, stop around 7 for dinner and hopefully drive the rest of the way (although it seems they always need a bathroom break going over the grapevine.)

I guess, I should rephrase that to it takes us 5 to 6 hours if we leave around 6 or 7 pm. Closer to 7 pm. I find the rush hour traffic in the Sacramento/Stockton area can really slow you down by an hour or so.

I know, don't you dread the grapevine bathroom find...

Tina

 

[samkj]

I'll have to show this to my husband. Maybe instead of leaving the second he walks in the door from work, we should have an early dinner then get on the road. If we do leave a bit later we may get by with one stop, since the last half of the trip the kids will be sound asleep.

We just decided to add Friday night to our trip recently so we're still working out the details. So Friday night when we get there we have to check into one hotel(Park Inn), only to check out again first thing in the morning and move to the hotel (Carousel Inn) next door.